Fourier optics

BioPhotonicsJul 2007Part of the Wiley Series in Pure and Applied Optics, the book Diffraction, Fourier Optics and Imaging presents theories of diffraction, imaging and related topics based on Fourier analysis and synthesis techniques. Using an approach that focuses on the use of examples and computer simulation, the author demonstrates how these theories become the foundation of applications such as tomography, MRI, and phase contrast and scanning confocal microscopies. A chapter on computerized imaging covers image reconstruction from projections. It discusses computed tomography and radon transform, which is the theoretical basis for the technique. The projection slice theorem shows how the 1-D Fourier transforms of projections are equivalent to the slices in the 2-D Fourier transform plane of the image. The 429-page resource includes charts, diagrams, references and an index. Okan K. Ersoy; John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, N.J., 2007; $110.

As a wavefront of light passes by an opaque edge or through an opening, secondary weaker wavefronts are generated, apparently originating at that edge. These secondary wavefronts will interfere with the primary wavefront as well as with each other to form various diffraction patterns.